My knee was giving me fits, so I did no cycling and the time I spent at the gym was unfocused.

I ate too much cheese.

It has been a long time since I’ve had back pain, but this week I did, which kept me even less mobile.

Why did I get back pain? Last weekend was the big coffee event of the year. SCAA came to Seattle and I went for 3 days. Now on a normal day I might have 4 coffees. During the 3 day coffee event, I easily was consuming 10+ a day. Espresso shot after espresso shot. I had opportunities to try espressos that I had either never heard of or only read about. I had to take advantage of it, much like a beer drinker would go a little nuts if they attended Oktoberfest.

Anyway, by the end of the 3rd day I noticed my lower back was feeling sore. At first I though it was from standing and walking the floor for 3 days. And it could very well have been that, but then I recalled a post I put together in 2012 about the connection between excess coffee and lower back pain. See Sarno, Back Pain and Coffee? if that topic is of interest. A few days after the event, my coffee was back to “normal” and my back felt better.

Pulling Out the Big Gun

I didn’t want to have to do this, but I’ve decided to stop eating cheese. It is too palatable. I over consume it. In 2011, I went a month without dairy, but at that time I consumed lots of almonds to curb hunger. That won’t be an option this time, as I quit eating nuts in June 2013.

This will be the first time ever that I won’t be consuming nuts or cheese.

@Geoff – The fasting and cycling are about getting back to where I left off in Week #9. The cheese is a big move, but I suspected it was going to happen as I got closer to the end. Also, I lost my “Sam’s Club wife”, so cheese won’t be as cheap as it once was for me. 😉

What are your thoughts on eating one full meal only once a day? Maybe supplementing with a fruit/cheese piece only once in the rest of the day? or alternately what is the physiological purpose/effects of 12 hour fasts?

Oh no, not another “Sam’s Club Divorce”! Whatever happened to the sanctity of marriage?

The cheese is a big move, which is why you might want to hold off on that for 1 more week now that things have normalized for you. You can’t beat plain baked or steamed potatoes for a low calorie, high satiety food, though. Heck, you can even pre-cook and cool them to get some of that resistant starch mojo everyone is talking about!

I love your honesty in all of this. Life derails and distracts us from our goals all the time – special events, stress, times when we don’t want to say no to something which is fun. This is the story for all of us, weight loss is not a curve its more like a weather pattern, with unexpected peaks and drops. Thanks for writing it out there for us all to see, learn and empathise with. Body pain is an odd thing, it motivates us to change and also sometimes makes us want to give in too. I read two things recently regarding eating healthily – practise, practise, practise. And consistency as long as you keep trending in the right direction, you will get there.